


Try It One More Time With Feeling

by whispered_story



Series: Unrelated J2 Christmas Fics [1]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Christmas, Established Relationship, Fluff, Holidays, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-08
Updated: 2015-09-08
Packaged: 2018-04-19 18:34:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4756754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whispered_story/pseuds/whispered_story
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jensen gives Jared candy for Christmas. Jared gives him half a house. [reposted, first posted 28/10/2010]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Try It One More Time With Feeling

Jensen isn't a very good at giving gifts. He always warns people, telling them not to expect too much. Most people nod, tell him it's okay, and then still get disappointed come Christmas or their birthday.

It kinda sucks.

It sucks especially when you're dating Jared Padalecki, who is the uncrowned king of gift giving. Jared loves presents and he doesn't even wait for special occasions to give them. Within months of them meeting, Jensen had a whole stack of things Jared had given him, from a PSP to random books to bottles of way too expensive wine to a leather jacket Jensen saw someone on set wearing and admired; a week later he had the same one. Jared likes to shower people he cares about with affection and gifts. He doesn't even have to think about it much, just sees something and buys it on a whim. Jensen, on the other hand, spends hours worrying and wondering and still rarely manages to come up with something good.

"Can we not do this whole gift giving thing this year?" Jensen asks Jared in late November, the two of them sitting on their director chairs side by side, waiting for the lighting to be fixed.

"What?" Jared looks up from the bag of skittles he's been working his way through. "What'd you mean?"

"Christmas," Jensen says with a wince. "I thought we could skip the present part."

"You don't want me to buy you something for Christmas?" Jared asks, mouth hanging open.

Technically, Jensen thinks, he doesn't want to buy something for _Jared_. Jared pretty much has everything he could ever want anyway, and Jensen's just gonna end up buying him a sweater or booze if he's forced to get him something.

"I don't really need anything," he hedges. "And I hate this whole gift thing."

"It's Christmas," Jared says, sounding affronted. "Anything else you wanna skip? The tree? The whole decoration part? _Cookies_?"

Jensen sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "No, man, come on. We can do all of that. But we don't really need presents."

"It's not about needing them," Jared says. "It's simply about giving someone something that'll make them smile."

Jensen looks at Jared, who looks like he's seconds away from breaking out the pout that Jensen can never resist. "Okay, fine. How about we make a deal then and say... we'll get each other something for no more than, say, 20 bucks."

Jared furrows his brow and then rolls his eyes. "Deal," he says, holding out his hand.

Jensen has to bite back a grin as he shakes Jared's hand. It's an odd gesture between them, when he's used to Jared pulling him into bone-crushing hugs or, when they're alone, mind-blowing kisses.

+

Belatedly, Jensen realizes that a price limit doesn't actually make buying presents any easier. In fact, it's a lot harder. The only good thing is that Jared won't be able to buy him anything awesome this way either and won't show Jensen up.

He's done that for the past couple of years.

In the end, Jensen gets Jared twenty bucks worth of candy. He figures he can't go wrong with food when it comes to Jared.

+

"You go first," Jared says with an excited grin on his face.

Jensen drains the rest of his red wine, licking his lips as he reaches for the envelope. They're sitting on the floor by the tree-- because Jared insisted-- Harley and Sadie sprawled out at their sides.

"Gift card?" Jensen guesses.

Jared shrugs, still grinning. "Open it and see for yourself," he says.

Jensen gives him a small smile, pulling the flap open and pulling out the papers inside. It's the deed for Jared's house, except where Jared's name should be, there's also Jensen's.

"Jay," he starts, eyes widening. "You can't... this is too much. No way."

Jared shrugs. "We said twenty dollars. I already own the house, so that didn't cost me anything, just signed half of it over to you."

"Technically, that's a lot more than twenty dollars," Jensen says, swallowing. He looks at the box sitting next to Jared, wrapped in bright red paper with stars on it. He got Jared _freaking candy_.

"It's not. I spent that money a couple of years ago." Jared smiles with a shrug. "You already live here anyway. Just wanted to make it official."

"Jesus," Jensen breathes out.

Jared laughs, gets onto his hands and knees to crawl over and kiss Jensen before sitting back. "Okay, my turn now," he says, picking up the box.

Jensen watches with a sense of dread as Jared undoes the bow, rips away the paper, and flips open the lid of the cardboard box. For a split moment, Jared's face falls, and then his smile is back. Jensen's not sure if he's imagining how forced it looks or not.

"All my favorites, man," Jared says.

"Yeah," Jensen answers, voice thick.

He's the biggest fucking moron on the planet.

+

"I think I screwed up," Jensen says.

His parents look up from their dinner, both with twin expressions of confusion.

"What, honey?" Donna asks.

Jensen sighs. "I got Jared candy for Christmas," he admits and god, he's glad his siblings aren't coming home until the next day. They'd probably tease him for months if they knew about this.

"That boy likes candy more than anyone I know," Alan says, but Donna just groans and shakes her head. Probably at both of them.

"He gave me half of his house," Jensen adds and Alan winces. "Yeah."

"Oh, Jensen," Donna says, giving him a reproachful look.

"I know. I'm an idiot," Jensen says. "But we said we wouldn't spend more than twenty dollars on each other. I thought he'd get me a book or a CD or something. Should have known he'd find a loophole. And now I gave him candy and he gave me _half a house_. I just thought, well, Jay loves candy."

"It's not just about that, honey." Donna gives him a small smile. "Gifts aren't just about giving someone something that they'll like. It's about what you're telling that person with the gift."

Jensen groans. "Yeah? And what are you trying to tell me with the socks you give me every year?"

"That I don't think it's appropriate for a grown-up man with a good paycheck to walk around in socks with holes in them," Donna replies without hesitation, giving Jensen a pointed look. Alan chuckles.

"Mom," Jensen protests, but decides not to try to defend himself. She's not exactly wrong. Instead he sighs and dares to ask, "And what does giving someone candy say?"

Donna makes a face. "You know, it's not too late to fix this," she says instead of answering his questions. "We have a few nice jewelry stores in Dallas."

"Right," Jensen says slowly. "I don't think this whole 'getting your partner a diamond every time you screw up' thing is going to work on Jared. He's not exactly a diamond kinda guy, in case you didn't notice."

Donna doesn't seem to get the joke, because she just sends Jensen a glare.

"I don't think that's what your mom is talking about," Alan offers.

"Well, what are you trying to say?" Jensen asks. "Because I don't see how getting Jared something expensive is gonna say anything other than _'I blew a shitload of money on you cause I feel guilty'_."

"I'm saying you've been dating the boy for almost two years," Donna says. "And that's not counting the two years you danced around each other."

"So?"

"So, you love Jared," she says and Jensen nods. "You want a future with him, right?"

"Well, yeah, but..." Jensen stops, eyes widening. "Oh."

His parents smile at him and Donna reaches out to pat his arm. "Think about it, honey."

"You want me to marry Jared?"

She frowns. "I want you to marry Jared if that's what you want, yeah. Frankly, I don't think you're gonna find anyone better out there for you."

"I'm not," Jensen says slowly as he thinks over his mother's words again. "It's just... don't you thinks it's a little too early?"

"You're not exactly a teenager anymore," Alan joins in.

"I don't want to talk you into anything," Donna says, voice soft. "Marriage is something you should want for yourself. But to be honest, we've been expecting either of you to pop the questions for a while now."

She gives Jensen a small, hopeful smile and then pats Alan's arm and tells him to help her get the dessert. Jensen remains sitting at the empty table, staring after his parents.

+

Turns out Jensen not only sucks at coming up with a good gift for his boyfriend, he sucks at proposing as well. Because he's pretty damn sure he's gonna fuck this up spectacularly.

They're meeting up in Los Angeles the day before New Year's. Jensen flies in a day earlier, buying groceries for dinner and Jared's favorite wine. He tosses and turns the whole night, not falling asleep until the wee hours of morning.

Jared's flight gets in at two.

Jensen spends the morning puttering around the house, cleaning up even if it's already spotless. He almost throws up his breakfast three times and decides to skip lunch all together.

By the time he's at the airport watching people trickle through the gate and waiting for Jared's tall frame to finally appear, he's sweating and his stomach is rolling.

He lifts his hand when he spots Jared, waving a little and Jared grins when he sees him.

"Hey," Jared says, pulling him into a tight hug, holding on a couple of seconds longer than necessary before stepping back.

"Hey, Jay." Jensen looks at him with a smile. He wishes he could step right back into Jared's arms, bury his face in the crook of his neck, and steal a few kisses. "Have a good flight?"

Jared makes a face. "I'm pretty sure the woman I sat next to took a bath in her perfume, man."

"Let's get your luggage and get out of here then, huh?"

Jared nods, smiling. They walk close together, arms almost brushing, Jared knocking their shoulders together every now and then.

They get Jared's bag and make their way outside quickly. There are a couple of people who look their way, and Jensen really doesn't want to stop to talk to anyone and give autographs right now. Not today, when he's too busy concentrating on not throwing up.

"You okay?" Jared asks when they're in the car, slowly making their way through L.A. traffic.

"Sure," Jensen lies, giving Jared a smile that he hopes his reassuring.

"You just seem kinda, I don't know, agitated? Like something is up," Jared says with a shrug. He brushes his hand over Jensen's arm for a moment, squeezing it quickly before letting go.

"I'm good," Jensen says. "Just hate driving in traffic."

Jared laughs. "I'd kiss you to make you feel better, but you never know who's watching," he says with a grimace, then grins. "Once we're home I'll make up for it though."

Jensen chuckles and nods. He feels some of his nerves subside, breathes a little easier now that Jared is here, smiling and joking. He listens to Jared ramble about Christmas and his family for the rest of the drive, glancing over whenever he can, and the part of him that isn't nervous starts feeling excited. Because if Jared says yes, they're going to get married. Jared's going to be his _husband_ , and Jensen would be lying if he said he'd never thought about this. He'd thought it might be something they'd do after _Supernatural_ , once things calmed down in their lives a little, but his mother is absolutely right. He's not gonna find someone better, because Jared is everything he wants. Jared's it.

"Jensen?" Jared asks.

Jensen shakes his head, turning into their driveway. "Sorry, I was lost in thought," he admits.

Jared chuckles. "Well, glad we made it home alive then," he says, as Jensen maneuvers his car into the garage.

He's just gotten out of the car when Jared rounds it, stopping right in front of him. "Promised I'd kiss you once we were home, right?" he says, pressing Jensen back against the car and leaning in, bringing their lips together. Jensen tilts his head up, sliding his arms around Jared's neck and kisses him back.

"Hi," Jared says when they break apart, breath fanning over Jensen's face.

Jensen grins, whispers back, "Hi.", and pulls Jared down into another kiss.

+

Potatoes are baking in the oven and Jensen turns the steaks over in the frying pan. He feels a pair of arms wrap around his middle, and Jared nuzzles his neck, pressing a kiss to his shoulder.

"Salad is done," he says.

Jensen turns his face, pressing a kiss to Jared's jaw. "Great. Steaks are done in a bit, too. Just need to rest for a few more minutes and then we can eat."

Jared hums contently. "I can't wait. It smells awesome," he says, picking up Jensen's glass of wine and taking sip before handing it to Jensen.

"You always say that."

"'Cause steak is always awesome," Jared says with a chuckle, kissing Jensen's cheek and sighing softly. "I almost wish we didn't have to go to the party tomorrow."

"We promised we'd be there."

"Yeah. And I know we don't see everyone here nearly often enough, but I just wish it'd be just us. Once filming starts we'll barely have time for each other again."

"It's just for a few hours," Jensen says. He rests his arm over Jared's, linking their fingers over his stomach.

He turns of the stove when the steaks are done, pulling the pan off the hotplate to let it rest for a few minutes before turning around in Jared's arms. He rests his head on Jared's shoulder for a moment, breathing in the familiar scent and soaking up Jared's warmth.

"I wanted to ask you something," he says, voice thick. He'd wanted to do this after dinner, but he suddenly doesn't want to wait. Doesn't want to do this over dessert in the living-room, the way everyone does it.

"Yeah?"

Jensen pulls back, looks up at Jared. He tugs a strand of hair behind Jared's ear, lets his fingers run through it.

"I love you," he says, swallowing down the lump in his throat.

"But," Jared prompts, looking a little nervous.

Jensen shakes his head. "No but," he says. "Jared, would you marry me?"

Jared's eyes widen, and he gapes for a moment, before snapping his mouth shut. "You... Jensen, did you just think of this while making dinner?" he asks with a chuckle, eyes shining, and he sounds disbelieving. Jensen's not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

He shakes his head. "I have a ring. I just... I was gonna do this after dinner, but..."

"But asking me in a kitchen, while making steak seemed more fitting?" Jared asks.

Jensen shrugs, feeling a little embarrassed. "I guess," he admits. "So, uh, you didn't give me an answer yet."

Jared laughs, cupping Jensen's face and pulling him into a hard kiss. "Hell yes," he mumbles between kisses and Jensen smiles against his lips, kissing him back.

"We should eat before the steaks get cold," he finally says, feeling a little breathless. He smiles widely at Jared, stealing one more kiss before they part somewhat reluctantly.

They load their plates with food, sitting down at the table across from each other.

Jared holds up his wine glass. "To us," he says.

Jensen clinks their glasses together. "To us," he echoes. "And Jared?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Merry belated Christmas."

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from Kris Kristofferson's "One More Time With Feeling".


End file.
